"THE MOST LONELY PER.SON IN THE WOR.LD" compulsive, out of touch with reality, delusional, antisocial and paranoid." "Described by his brother's lawyers"? Mental health is a continuum. There are many shades of schizophrenia, for instance, and Kaczynski may suf- fer from some version of the disease. But he is nowhere near any clinical extreme. There is no credible evidence that he hears voices, has hallucinations, or is "out of touch with reality"-unless reality is defined as having conventional social and political views. There was clearly something comforting, though, in the familiar picture of an ordinary crackpot-and something frightening about the physically meek, homegrown terrorist who stubbornly refused to ac- cept not just established authority but modernity itself. Fears that the trial might become a "circus" filled count- less editorials. (This awful possibility was also referred to as a political "show trial," though that term properly refers, of course, to a sham trial staged by a state to punish its enemies, and not to an argument offered by a revolution- ary in the dock.) It wasn't easy to pic- ture Kaczynski turning his trial in to agitprop theatre-he is no Abbie Hoff- man-but it was becoming clear that he simply would not recant his stark, apocalyptic view that science and prog- ress were a colossal mistake. There were a few-a very few-dis- senting voices. Michael Mello, a law professor (and former capital defender), wrote, in a column for the Sacramento Bee, "Ted Kaczynski's lawyers, however well-intentioned and paternalistic, are not 'assisting' him. They are controlling him. They are strong-arming a man on trial for his life." Mello compared Ka- czynski's legal situation to that of John Brown, the leader of the famous raid at Harpers Ferry-a violent attempt to foment a slave rebellion in Virginia in 1859. Brown's refusal to allow his law- yers to raise an insanity defense during his trial was respected, and his execu- tion helped bring about the end of slav- ery. James Q Wilson, the conservative social scientist, wrote, in a Times Op- Ed, of the Manifesto, "The argument is subtle and carefully developed, lacking anything even faintly resembling the wild claims or irrational speculation that a lunatic might produce. . . . If it is the work of a madman, then the writ- ings of many political philosophers- Jean Jacques Rousseau, Tom Paine, Karl Marx-are scarcely more sane." The only'writer who got to see Ka- czynski was John Zerzan, a veteran an- archist from Oregon. Here is a sample of the coverage that Zerzan was giving Kaczynski, taken from the magazine Anarchy: Enter the Unabomber and a new line is being drawn. This time the bohemian schiz- fluxers, Green yuppies, hobbyist anarcho- journalists, condescending organizers of the poor, hip nihilo-aestheres, and all the other "anarchists" who thought their pretentious pastimes would go unchallenged indefi- nitely-well, it's time to pick which side , youre on. . . . Some, no doubt, would prefer to wait for a perfect victim. Many would like to un- learn what they know of the invasive and unchallenged violence generated everywhere by the prevailing order-in order to con- demn the Unabomber's counter-terror. But here is the man and the challenge be- fore us. Anarchists! One more effort if you would be enemies of this long nightmare! Think for yourself Ac on your own. Those who wanted to know what Kaczynski was thinking were forced to rely on the few people who had contact with him-still, primarily, his lawyers, who naturally tended to emphasize his terrible mental illness. (It was so much worse than an outsider could know, they claimed. Anyone who doubted its power was stupid or heartless, or both.) But Tony Serra, too, was still in touch with him, and what he told me was that Kaczynski "believed that the public defenders (who are paid by the govern- ment and therefore 'sup from the same trough' as the prosecutors) were conspir- ing . . . to silence him and prevent him from espousing the ideology that 'ex- plained' the homicides. He believed that it was ultimately the right and the left hands, so to speak, of government seek- ing the same objective in chilling his op- portunity to be heard." D R. SALLY JOHNSON proved to be the dramàs deus ex machina. A life- long employee of the federal prison system, she is currently the associate warden for health services at a prison in Butner, North Carolina. Like Dr. Park Dietz, she has testified for the prosecution in many high -profile trials, including Jim Bakker's and John Hinck- ley's. She has a reputation for fairness, although Vince Fuller, one of Hinck- ley's attorneys, has said that the govern- ment "picks her when they want a cer- tain result, and she gives it to them." 61 Dr. Johnson spent a week interview- ing Kaczynski and reading his jour- nals and other writings and the reports of the other doctors. As had been ex- pected, she found Kaczynski competent to stand tria1 and to represent himself But, according to those who read her sealed report to the court, she also of- fered a "provisional" diagnosis of para- noid schiwphrenia. This was good news for Kaczynski's lawyers and bad news for the prosecutors, and it was to have a decisive impact on the proceedings. Court reconvened on January 22nd. Although Dr. Johnson had found the defendant competent to represent him- self: and both the defense and the pros- ecution, asked for their views, had filed briefs conceding that he had a constitu- tional right to do so, Judge Burrell went out on a judicial limb and denied Ka- czynski's request. This request, too, he said, had been "untimely." Kaczynski would need time to prepare-never mind his offer to start trial immedi- ately-and a new jury would have to be selected. The Judge even accused Kaczynski from the bench of trying to manipulate the court and delay his trial. The upshot: KaczynskI would have to proceed with his present lawyers, would have to listen to himself being de- scribed as mentally ill, and would have to listen to the most embarrassing passages in his journals read out in court, aware that they would be broad- cast around the world as evidence that he was a "sickie," a despicable laugh- ingstock, certainly not someone whose ideas should be taken seriously. That was when Kaczynski copped a plea. It was a curious dénouement. The government had been widely criticized for not accepting previous offers of a guilty plea, and had been accused of pursuing the death penalty for polit- ical reasons. But the plea offers had always been conditional. The prosecu- tors wanted at least a clean win-a life sentence, without possibility of release-and not further litigation about the constitutionality of their search of the cabin. So they had refused to consider anything but an unconditional plea. And that was what Kaczynski sud- denly offered them, only minutes af- ter the Judge refused hIS request to rep- resent himself In truth, the government's chances of getting a death sentence had started to look less bright. The prosecutors